Citation: R. Warner, Back Fire: The CIA's Secret War in Laos and its Link to the War in
Vietnam (1995)

From Ralph McGehee. 4 October, 1995

Warner, R. (1995). BACK FIRE: THE CIA'S SECRET WAR IN LAOS AND
ITS LINK TO THE WAR IN VIETNAM. NY: Simon & Schuster.

Back Fire
contains the reminiscences of various CIA officers as their secret
guerrilla war became a major military operation eventually decimating
the Hmong hilltribers that fought for the CIA. "From
1963 to 1973, behind a bizarre front of 'neutrality,' Laos was
a secret annex to the main Vietnam theater, overseen by the U.S.
ambassador, run by the Central Intelligence Agency, and bombed by
the U.S. military, without the consent of Congress." To support the war
the U.S. paid for the Lao Army -- Force Armee Royale (FAR), about fifteen
thousand Thai SGUs, thirty thousand mostly Hmong irregulars, and
the carpet bombing. Once the bombing began, the civilian population
became the target for more than two million tons of bombs.

Anthony Lewis wrote that this "was the most appalling episode of
lawless cruelty in American history." Both this book and Conboy's book,
Shadow War, show the inside of this major covert operation, describe the
varied CIA personnel involved and to some extent detail the
consequences of the secret operations of the CIA.